I'll admit the Cube fiasco always puts these thoughts in my head, but there's no way would Apple give up on the mini this soon. What else would they use for an entry level machine? What Apple is just going to give up on getting people to switch before they go mainstream with Intel. Just because there hasn't been an update doesn't mean the Mac mini is EOL. There hasn't been an iBook updates for a while either. It would be interesting to go back in history and see how long it took Apple to update a new product like the mini.

Well, it won't be neglected. I'm not trying to turn you off from a Mini because I couldn't see them cutting it out of their product line up until January, which would be the earliest that you'd really see a product change. I don't know if the Mini will be discontinued but I know that it isn't doing as well as everything thinks or hopes. So, if you're planning on buying a Mini, buy a Mini, nothing is going to change between now and January that would affect your purchase. As for support for the Mini, buy an AppleCare plan and you're set for years._________________Computer Engineer
Junior, Brown University
15" NC8430 HP Laptop
1.42Ghz PPC Mac Mini, 1Gb RAM, 1st Gen
40GB G4 iPod
2GB Black iPod Nano

I doubt Apple will drop the mini line any time soon. The only way I could see this happening is if minis are cannibalizing the sales of PowerMacs and iMacs to the point where they are costing Apple money.

I bet the mini became a more popular model of choice after the Intel announcement. People will simply buy a mini expecting to get a couple years out of it and then upgrade to a higher end model later.

I don't think you'd find a motherboard on eBay for a long time. The only way I could see the Mini surviving is if Apple brings back it's 17" LCD, really. Either that or provide 3rd party LCDs. The cheapest LCD Apple sells is $999. In the Apple store you cannot buy a fully-functional Mini for less than an iMac, a substantially faster/better iMac._________________Computer Engineer
Junior, Brown University
15" NC8430 HP Laptop
1.42Ghz PPC Mac Mini, 1Gb RAM, 1st Gen
40GB G4 iPod
2GB Black iPod Nano

Microsoft doesn't needs to sell TVs because the product is expected to be used with one purchased separately. This is not true for a PC. People, normal people, just want to buy a whole computer that works, which would have to include a monitor. Denon, again, see above.

The problem is not that it's difficult to make a mini work but that it is not easy enough I guess.

The thing is, all of us are technophiles is some way. The average consumer (which exists only for the sake of argument) is not. What good is a box. He needs to interface with it and so needs a kbm. He wants to go into an Apple store and walk out with a working computer. Especially since people seem to think Macs are incompatible (whatever that means) that means he'd probably want to get everything from Apple to minimize problems from "incompatibility." He sees a $999 monitor a $400 computer and $100 worth of peripherals required just to get a fully functioning Mini from Apple and only Apple. He sees an iMac (most likely he completely misses the eMacs as Apple seems to save those for selling to no one....since they really aren't advertised...at all) and decides, hey, for $1299 it's a fully working computer. Oh my God! It's faster too! Why would anyone buy that other thing. Sure it's not as small, but it's all in one, you just buy 1 thing! Yeah, it's a little more than I wanted to spend, but the Mini with a monitor was also more than I wanted to spend, so there we go.

Apple is trying to capture the switcher with the mini. The switcher already has a keyboard mouse and monitor.

I'd personally like to see an Apple 15 or 17" for the mini. Maybe Apple is concerned that a cheaper monitor will cannibalize 20" monitor sales. Maybe Apple doesn't want to complicate things with too many choices, like they did with the iPod.

I don't know the answer, but as far as I know, the mini is still selling well.

The switcher already has a kbm....in use. On another computer. A switcher, more than likely, is not just going to dump their old computer; it still works well enough. Windows users put up with a lot more than OS X users and have the mentality of keeping things around because their used to it and because "it works well enough" even though well enough is pretty much never well enough. I would say that most people want a kb, if not a kbm, with their Mini.

I think this is a logical conclusion considering Apple dropped the price of their kbm set $40 to $59 from $99 I believe, I'm not sure on the exact price decrease.